REVIEW. 



Compte de Flanders from Belgium, all give sufficient promise to warrant more 

 extensive trial. 



I may state here that the season was remarkably favorable for the production of 

 large crops of strawberries, and large fruits. Riiiny, cool weather, more English 

 than American ; flavor was not so good as usual. I have been told by a gentleman 

 whose word I cannot doubt, that from an acre of land under Large Early Scarlet, 

 over one hundred and twenty bushels of fruit were gathered, and sold at an average 

 to the dealers at about ten cents per quart. An accurate count was kept of one 

 hundred bushels ; the balance were estimated. 



This was not a bad yield. The land, which lies adjoining the pretty little village 

 of Newark, Wayne county, N. Y., is a dry sandy loam, on a sandy subsoil. 



REVIEW. 



Botany of the Southern States. In two parts. Part I. — Structural and Physio- 

 logical Botany and Vegetable Products. Part II. — Descrijjtions of Southern 

 Plants. Arranged on the Natural System. Preceded hy a Linncen and a 

 Dichotomous Analysis. By Prof. John Darhy, A. 31. New York, Cincinnati 

 and Savannah. 1855. 



It is no part of the mission of the Horticulturist to enter extensively upon minute 

 Botanical descriptions; but it has a duty to perform by keeping its readers informed 

 regarding the sources of information, and with this view we notice with pleasure the 

 appearance of Professor Darby's new and important work. It forms an admirable 

 introduction to Botany; as such it is adapted and intended for the assistance of 

 learners, and may safely and profitably be introduced into schools. Its descriptions 

 and instructions are brief and clear, perhaps the most so of any work that has fallen 

 under our notice, having the advantage, too, of being fully up to the knowledge of 

 the present day on the subjects of which it treats; as an instance we refer to the 

 chapters on Fertilization and Fruiting, which are treated of in a popular manner. 

 Witness the following : 



"The constitution of the fruit differs materially in its ripe from what it wag in the 

 green state. Water and lignine diminish, and sugar incrcaseg. Water diminishes 

 from two to ten per cent, in different kinds ; lignine generally in a greater proportion. 

 Sugar increases in Currants from 0.52 to 6.25, it being twelve times the quantity in a 

 ripe from what they possessed in a green state. This the remarkable changes in taste 

 v;ould lead us to suppose without analysis. In many cases we know that sugar is pio- 

 duced at the expense of starch, but no starch can be discovered in those fruits which 

 generate the greatest amount of sugar, such as Currants, Apples, Peaches, &c. That it 

 takes place at the expense of the otlier proximate principles, aided by watei', is certain, 

 since it goes on without any increase of weight, and even when separated from the parent 

 stock, and also in the process of cooking. It is a well known fact in chemistry, that the 

 action of various vegetable substances on each other, -ndcd Ijy moderate heat, will produce 

 saccharine principle. Tlie vegetable acids, with gum and mucilage, will produce 

 These principles are contained in all succulent fruits, tartaric acid, malic 



